NEW BOOK OF JOSHUA.

Otago Witness, Issue 2811, 26 August 1908, Page 79

NEW BOOK OF JOSHUA.

SOME INTERESTING,- ifilKMeAI - " . ,$ STORIES RE^rsEtfr 7/ sDrkGaster, chief Tabbf -"of S%li4 r Spanish and Portuguese (Tews in "England, d©-. 6cribed to __ the " memibers of'%the Royal Asiatic Society how he discovered a new Samaritan. Book, of '-Sikhnffr Mi&ing his travMs ir Samaria last* year;."' This Te-m-arlStble volume agrees wijth, and yet differs materially from, the'^ststey in the Bible, and anwng^othet things fuTfiasßteßf a new version ofei^e ~f 'ail walls of~ Jericho. ' "''-r" 5 ?;-" 1 Dr^Gaster has --closely connected with^he Samaritans^for. many yjeafs,_and was Allowed free access to their libraries. While on a visit to Nablus last year he' received from ifche high priest manu-_ script trbich "prov^w.^^^Bipbiiufefe'W brief history of the Samaritans from the entry of the children ojUIsFAel into^Eales-. tine under Joshua up to""the~present time. What was_ equally remarkable was that from the -^esTger: toetTeoefived .another- MSr which, .^ass ? aimosft idelt^Ball-jsith-i^!"'-- '--. At '.first he did not a'fcach. much Importance to it r bu-t^'a. 'careful examination nad convinced him that it was an authentic copy of the old Hebrew original. For centuries there was a f vague .id^ar.-thait... such a book in the Hebrew" language h&3^ exjsted among ther Jiui=-i3§> tiling" was knownT-'of'- it/ and ""to ha^*- sur- : " prise- aaid delight~he--had - concluded that, this wae the lost book. . .■ i Ib jnust have beeif' considered by"tlie Samaritans as a book of authority, v Dt" Gaster observed, for* the calendar started-from-jthe indications in it. It could not .have been translated from the Greek, because .it agreed entirely wiih the Hebrew, while- the knowledge of, the Hebrew language' among modern Samaritans was very limited. • - ~ Tke' new book starts with, a definitedate of the eTa of creation^thfe year 2794 1 * from the creation being given a® thel date of the death of Closes, sand £rom ;/ the year starts the new calculation, of the jubilee. That, Dr Gaster ' explained; was 3 omitted from the Bible. It then. de-J scribes how Joshua was- "commanded to proceed to the entry of the Promised Land. Joshua ordered the counting ol the people, which also did not appear in the Bible. Then it states that the spies went to Jerioho, and on their return gave a report to Joshua and the -High Priest Eleazar. They crossed the Jordan .preceded by the ark, and put up ihe. stonesin Gilgal, but there was no mention of,, the "reproach of Egypt." - f* <&xi A beautiful story is i^iven of the sirr of Achan. This differs from the Bible account. In the latter Achan is stated to have stolen a mantle. According to the new book he" stole^i- golden idol from a temple^ and his guilt was discovered by the stones on the bi-eastplate of the High Priest getting dim and losing their luet-re when the name of the guilty man was pronounced. The story of the stratagem of the capture of Ai is aselated, -but no mention, -is made oi Joshua, holding up the lance. The " Bible. j~ by the yray, says that Joshua; sent 30,000 men against Ai, whereas the^ new book says that he sent only 3000;In an account, of. tbg^nuser of the .Gibeon- 1 ' ites, however, the language, which is veiy difficult, agrees- in. '*y<ery mmute. ""detail with the canonical' text, -Says,.pr,GasteT. ; In the fight with" the combined" forces of the kings there was nothing told of Joshua's invocation to the sun to stand , still on Gibeon. and the moon in the. Valley of Ajalon. The' history pToceeded,the rev. igentleman stated/ on the same lines as the Bible until the division of" the land among the nin>e> tribes and a-half, One of th© most interesting ' stories in the book describes how Joshua was savel before Jericho. The version goes that the two and a-half tribes returned beyond the Jordan with King Nobah appointed over them. Joshua, was attacked by King Shobach, and his army trapped or encircled by seven walls of iron, made by the wi&urds and enchanters in the service of Shobaph. Joshua prayed to God. A dove came to him ; he tied a letter to its wings, and it bore a message to King Nobah, who, with his tribes, came. to Joshua's rescue. The Priest Phhieas blew a trumpet once, the walls fell down, and Joshua defeated Shobach. When Joshua assembled his people in Shechem and took leave of them, he did not refer in his address, according to the new book, to the fact that " the forefathers served other gode." Many of the points wherein the Samara tan text differed from the Bible were found also in, Josephus, Dr Gaster went on, and aleo in other Jewish Rabbinical writings. This showed that Joeepaue did

not invent any of the legends, as he was v supposed to have done. jaaJ-P^r^orilpna^^f the newly -recovered :^[eD"r%w*'f'erSd?r,"' Dr Gaster said,- muss have be-en composed^afc;. .least 200 years -before -Christy and the'' book, which threw solfte. light on the history of those times, together . with otB&r Samaritan writings, might elucidate some of the problems wbicß.cehtred around the Bible